SU FILINDEU
Mutton, semolina, Sardinian pecorino
Exceedingly Masterful
Sardinia
300 minutes
620 Calories
SU FILINDEU
Mutton, semolina, Sardinian pecorino
Exceedingly Masterful
Sardinia
300 minutes
620 Calories
SU FILINDEU
Mutton, semolina, Sardinian pecorino
Exceedingly Masterful
Sardinia
300 minutes
620 Calories
GENESIS
Su filindeu, whose name literally translates from the Sardinian dialect as "the threads of God," represents one of the most rare, archaic, and precious expressions of the gastronomic tradition of Sardinia, specifically of the Barbagia and the territory of Nuoro. Its history is indissolubly interwoven with religious devotion and the pilgrimage toward the sanctuary of San Francesco di Lula. For centuries, this extraordinary pasta was prepared exclusively by the women of a single Nuorese family, keepers of a complex and secret manual technique, passed down from generation to generation, to be offered as a restorative meal to the faithful who completed the long journey on foot during the feast days of the saint, in May and October.
The technical peculiarity resides entirely in the manual crafting of the dough, composed solely of semolina, water, and salt. The mass is pulled repeatedly with the hands through a rhythmic movement of extension and folding. Through eight consecutive passes, a single piece of dough multiplies geometrically until it gives rise to 256 incredibly thin threads, stretched like the strings of a musical instrument. These imperceptible threads are then laid with extreme precision upon a circular tray of woven asphodel, called the "fundu," in three overlapping and diagonally crossed layers, forming an exquisite lattice akin to lace or gauze.
Once the arrangement is complete, the pasta is left to dry fully in the sun, becoming a rigid and brittle sheet. From a gastronomic perspective, tradition dictates that the sheet be broken by hand and cooked directly in a highly concentrated and flavorful sheep's broth, to be subsequently finished with abundant fresh Sardinian pecorino, previously left to sour to obtain a meltingly stringy texture and a characteristic acidulous note.
PORTIONS (FOR 4 PERSONS)
FOR THE SACRED ART OF FRESH PASTA
Re-milled durum wheat semolina
Tepid water
Fine sea salt
400 g
approximately 200 ml
Fine salt
FOR THE EMBELLISHMENT
Mature mutton
Water
Large golden onion
Carrots
Ribs of celery
Fresh Sardinian pecorino
Salt
1 kg
3 l
1
2
2
300 g
To taste
CURATION
For the fresh pasta:
Arrange the re-milled durum wheat semolina in a well upon a wooden pastry board. Dissolve the fine salt in warm water and begin to integrate it slowly into the flour, kneading the dough with vigor for at least twenty minutes, until you obtain a compact, smooth, and exquisitely supple sphere. Divide the dough into small cylindrical mounds of approximately one hundred grams each, drape them with a damp linen cloth, and allow them to rest for about an hour. Once this time has elapsed, take one of the portions and begin to shape it with your hands, lightly moistening your fingertips with salted water should the dough prove too rigid, or with pure water if it is too dry. Pull the dough and fold it back upon itself eight consecutive times, doubling the strands with each movement, until you obtain 256 gossamer threads. Lay these delicate strands gently upon a traditional circular tray of woven asphodel, weaving them into three overlapping layers to create a lattice. Leave the pasta to dry beneath the sun or in a dry sanctuary for several hours until it becomes entirely dry and brittle.For the condiment:
Take a very generous cauldron and place within it the pieces of mutton, having rinsed them with utmost care. Cover the meat with three liters of cold water and bring to a simmer over medium heat. As the water begins to boil, carefully skim the surface to remove all impurities arising from the meat's fat. Clean the large golden onion, the carrots, and the stalks of celery, then add these vegetables whole to the pot. Season with salt as needed and allow to simmer gently for approximately three hours, until the mutton is rendered beautifully tender and the broth is rich, savory, and concentrated. Once cooked, filter the broth through a fine-mesh sieve and keep it warm. Meanwhile, reduce the fresh Sardinian pecorino into small cubes or grate it coarsely.For the final composition of the dish:
Bring the strained mutton broth once more to a boil. Break the now-dried sheets of su filindeu with your hands and plunge them directly into the boiling broth. Let the pasta cook for about three to four minutes. Extinguish the flame and immediately add the cubes of fresh Sardinian pecorino. Stir with devotion to melt the cheese, creating a beautifully stringy, ribbon-like texture. Let the soup rest for a brief minute before serving it warm in deep bowls.
aspiration
To achieve the traditional, meltingly hand-spun texture, employ a young Sardinian Pecorino that has been coaxed from the chill of the larder for a succession of days, thus permitting its natural acidity to awaken and ripen.
Should you lack the ancestral asphodel tray for the drying ritual, you may gracefully substitute wooden pasta frames, draped in elegant, food-safe mesh.
The noble mutton that has surrendered its essence to the broth is by no means to be discarded; instead, let it be presented piping hot as a second-course masterpiece, accompanied by potatoes simmered in the very same golden elixir, or by the fresh, vibrant harvest of the season.
GENESIS
Su filindeu, whose name literally translates from the Sardinian dialect as "the threads of God," represents one of the most rare, archaic, and precious expressions of the gastronomic tradition of Sardinia, specifically of the Barbagia and the territory of Nuoro. Its history is indissolubly interwoven with religious devotion and the pilgrimage toward the sanctuary of San Francesco di Lula. For centuries, this extraordinary pasta was prepared exclusively by the women of a single Nuorese family, keepers of a complex and secret manual technique, passed down from generation to generation, to be offered as a restorative meal to the faithful who completed the long journey on foot during the feast days of the saint, in May and October.
The technical peculiarity resides entirely in the manual crafting of the dough, composed solely of semolina, water, and salt. The mass is pulled repeatedly with the hands through a rhythmic movement of extension and folding. Through eight consecutive passes, a single piece of dough multiplies geometrically until it gives rise to 256 incredibly thin threads, stretched like the strings of a musical instrument. These imperceptible threads are then laid with extreme precision upon a circular tray of woven asphodel, called the "fundu," in three overlapping and diagonally crossed layers, forming an exquisite lattice akin to lace or gauze.
Once the arrangement is complete, the pasta is left to dry fully in the sun, becoming a rigid and brittle sheet. From a gastronomic perspective, tradition dictates that the sheet be broken by hand and cooked directly in a highly concentrated and flavorful sheep's broth, to be subsequently finished with abundant fresh Sardinian pecorino, previously left to sour to obtain a meltingly stringy texture and a characteristic acidulous note.
PORTIONS (FOR 4 PERSONS)
FOR THE SACRED ART OF FRESH PASTA
Re-milled durum wheat semolina
Tepid water
Fine sea salt
400 g
approximately 200 ml
Fine salt
FOR THE EMBELLISHMENT
Mature mutton
Water
Large golden onion
Carrots
Ribs of celery
Fresh Sardinian pecorino
Salt
1 kg
3 l
1
2
2
300 g
To taste
CURATION
For the fresh pasta:
Arrange the re-milled durum wheat semolina in a well upon a wooden pastry board. Dissolve the fine salt in warm water and begin to integrate it slowly into the flour, kneading the dough with vigor for at least twenty minutes, until you obtain a compact, smooth, and exquisitely supple sphere. Divide the dough into small cylindrical mounds of approximately one hundred grams each, drape them with a damp linen cloth, and allow them to rest for about an hour. Once this time has elapsed, take one of the portions and begin to shape it with your hands, lightly moistening your fingertips with salted water should the dough prove too rigid, or with pure water if it is too dry. Pull the dough and fold it back upon itself eight consecutive times, doubling the strands with each movement, until you obtain 256 gossamer threads. Lay these delicate strands gently upon a traditional circular tray of woven asphodel, weaving them into three overlapping layers to create a lattice. Leave the pasta to dry beneath the sun or in a dry sanctuary for several hours until it becomes entirely dry and brittle.For the condiment:
Take a very generous cauldron and place within it the pieces of mutton, having rinsed them with utmost care. Cover the meat with three liters of cold water and bring to a simmer over medium heat. As the water begins to boil, carefully skim the surface to remove all impurities arising from the meat's fat. Clean the large golden onion, the carrots, and the stalks of celery, then add these vegetables whole to the pot. Season with salt as needed and allow to simmer gently for approximately three hours, until the mutton is rendered beautifully tender and the broth is rich, savory, and concentrated. Once cooked, filter the broth through a fine-mesh sieve and keep it warm. Meanwhile, reduce the fresh Sardinian pecorino into small cubes or grate it coarsely.For the final composition of the dish:
Bring the strained mutton broth once more to a boil. Break the now-dried sheets of su filindeu with your hands and plunge them directly into the boiling broth. Let the pasta cook for about three to four minutes. Extinguish the flame and immediately add the cubes of fresh Sardinian pecorino. Stir with devotion to melt the cheese, creating a beautifully stringy, ribbon-like texture. Let the soup rest for a brief minute before serving it warm in deep bowls.
aspiration
To achieve the traditional, meltingly hand-spun texture, employ a young Sardinian Pecorino that has been coaxed from the chill of the larder for a succession of days, thus permitting its natural acidity to awaken and ripen.
Should you lack the ancestral asphodel tray for the drying ritual, you may gracefully substitute wooden pasta frames, draped in elegant, food-safe mesh.
The noble mutton that has surrendered its essence to the broth is by no means to be discarded; instead, let it be presented piping hot as a second-course masterpiece, accompanied by potatoes simmered in the very same golden elixir, or by the fresh, vibrant harvest of the season.
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GENESIS
Su filindeu, whose name literally translates from the Sardinian dialect as "the threads of God," represents one of the most rare, archaic, and precious expressions of the gastronomic tradition of Sardinia, specifically of the Barbagia and the territory of Nuoro. Its history is indissolubly interwoven with religious devotion and the pilgrimage toward the sanctuary of San Francesco di Lula. For centuries, this extraordinary pasta was prepared exclusively by the women of a single Nuorese family, keepers of a complex and secret manual technique, passed down from generation to generation, to be offered as a restorative meal to the faithful who completed the long journey on foot during the feast days of the saint, in May and October.
The technical peculiarity resides entirely in the manual crafting of the dough, composed solely of semolina, water, and salt. The mass is pulled repeatedly with the hands through a rhythmic movement of extension and folding. Through eight consecutive passes, a single piece of dough multiplies geometrically until it gives rise to 256 incredibly thin threads, stretched like the strings of a musical instrument. These imperceptible threads are then laid with extreme precision upon a circular tray of woven asphodel, called the "fundu," in three overlapping and diagonally crossed layers, forming an exquisite lattice akin to lace or gauze.
Once the arrangement is complete, the pasta is left to dry fully in the sun, becoming a rigid and brittle sheet. From a gastronomic perspective, tradition dictates that the sheet be broken by hand and cooked directly in a highly concentrated and flavorful sheep's broth, to be subsequently finished with abundant fresh Sardinian pecorino, previously left to sour to obtain a meltingly stringy texture and a characteristic acidulous note.
PORTIONS (FOR 4 PERSONS)
FOR THE SACRED ART OF FRESH PASTA
Re-milled durum wheat semolina
Tepid water
Fine sea salt
400 g
approximately 200 ml
Fine salt
FOR THE EMBELLISHMENT
Mature mutton
Water
Large golden onion
Carrots
Ribs of celery
Fresh Sardinian pecorino
Salt
1 kg
3 l
1
2
2
300 g
To taste
CURATION
For the fresh pasta:
Arrange the re-milled durum wheat semolina in a well upon a wooden pastry board. Dissolve the fine salt in warm water and begin to integrate it slowly into the flour, kneading the dough with vigor for at least twenty minutes, until you obtain a compact, smooth, and exquisitely supple sphere. Divide the dough into small cylindrical mounds of approximately one hundred grams each, drape them with a damp linen cloth, and allow them to rest for about an hour. Once this time has elapsed, take one of the portions and begin to shape it with your hands, lightly moistening your fingertips with salted water should the dough prove too rigid, or with pure water if it is too dry. Pull the dough and fold it back upon itself eight consecutive times, doubling the strands with each movement, until you obtain 256 gossamer threads. Lay these delicate strands gently upon a traditional circular tray of woven asphodel, weaving them into three overlapping layers to create a lattice. Leave the pasta to dry beneath the sun or in a dry sanctuary for several hours until it becomes entirely dry and brittle.For the condiment:
Take a very generous cauldron and place within it the pieces of mutton, having rinsed them with utmost care. Cover the meat with three liters of cold water and bring to a simmer over medium heat. As the water begins to boil, carefully skim the surface to remove all impurities arising from the meat's fat. Clean the large golden onion, the carrots, and the stalks of celery, then add these vegetables whole to the pot. Season with salt as needed and allow to simmer gently for approximately three hours, until the mutton is rendered beautifully tender and the broth is rich, savory, and concentrated. Once cooked, filter the broth through a fine-mesh sieve and keep it warm. Meanwhile, reduce the fresh Sardinian pecorino into small cubes or grate it coarsely.For the final composition of the dish:
Bring the strained mutton broth once more to a boil. Break the now-dried sheets of su filindeu with your hands and plunge them directly into the boiling broth. Let the pasta cook for about three to four minutes. Extinguish the flame and immediately add the cubes of fresh Sardinian pecorino. Stir with devotion to melt the cheese, creating a beautifully stringy, ribbon-like texture. Let the soup rest for a brief minute before serving it warm in deep bowls.
aspiration
To achieve the traditional, meltingly hand-spun texture, employ a young Sardinian Pecorino that has been coaxed from the chill of the larder for a succession of days, thus permitting its natural acidity to awaken and ripen.
Should you lack the ancestral asphodel tray for the drying ritual, you may gracefully substitute wooden pasta frames, draped in elegant, food-safe mesh.
The noble mutton that has surrendered its essence to the broth is by no means to be discarded; instead, let it be presented piping hot as a second-course masterpiece, accompanied by potatoes simmered in the very same golden elixir, or by the fresh, vibrant harvest of the season.